Chapter Twelve: Disputing Heads

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Blychert had always figured that the lower level of the second floor would pose a challenge.

He was mostly used to fighting ice demons, rock slimes, and wolf spiders on the upper levels, after all. And on top of that, before Bold Arrow came to town, he’d only ever experienced delving on his own. But even still, he was confident enough in his arcane abilities to the point where he knew beyond a doubt that his skillset was still useful this deep in. And if not, well, the others were more than capable themselves. They might have insisted that they were an inexperienced group of adventurers, but the reality was that they were more synergized than Bly had been expecting them to be.

Or, they had up until this point.

The fight against the rock thrasher yesterday hadn’t necessarily been out of the ordinary, nor had it been the most dangerous. It was an intermediate level spawn, with a typing that fit the biome of the Gleaming Caves, but there was just one problem that even he understood, despite his inexperience: a C-ranked monster should not have been able to spawn outside of a boss room at all. At least, not inside a D-rated dungeon; it should have been an impossibility. Regardless, they’d been forced to fight it. And if the difference between an E-ranked and a D-ranked monster was noticeable, then the difference between a D-ranked and a C-ranked monster was profound.

If it hadn’t been for Xander, Bly wasn’t sure they would have been able to even touch it, let alone kill it. That thought alone had been gnawing at him since they returned to camp last night, and it was partly because he had already been feeling that something was off in the dungeon, ever since arriving the day before last.

There were more monsters spawning than usual, almost hampering their ability to make substantial progress. Xander had explained that it was probably due to the dungeon’s core volatility being higher than normal, and yet Bly had very rarely seen that volatility rating fluctuate so much in his entire time coming here. He wasn’t sure why, but he was getting the sense that the dungeon itself was reacting to certain paremeters. What those things were, and whether it was because of Bold Arrow or not, he couldn’t even begin to say. No one had probably even been this far down on the second floor, so maybe that was the reason?

All he knew was that there was an uneasy feeling in the back of his mind. And the deeper they pushed, the more he could feel it tugging at him.

In any case, Bold Arrow was more than capable of dealing with a greater volume of monsters regardless, especially after so many days of acclimating to the dungeon, as well as being able to come up with newer and more efficient delving strategies as each day passed.

Despite their banter, Bredic and Vineta made a good team, coming up with different spell combinations and attack patterns for the three of them to use whilst they camped. Between Lisel’s tracking abilities and Vineta's divination magic, they were able to compile more and more mapping data so that they left no area unexplored on the second floor, all in the effort of finding that item. And when they ran into monsters that were perhaps a bit punchier than usual, Xander was there at the front to deal with it himself. Even for something as deadly as the rock thrasher, Bold Arrow’s skilled party leader seemed more than willing to put himself out there.

They were making good progress, despite Bly’s worries about the dungeon itself, for some reason he got it in his head that maybe there was a chance they could really go all the way to the end of the second floor. After all, Bold Arrow was really operating in full form now, and even Xander seemed to have put aside whatever issues he’d been having earlier in the week. So much so that Bly wondered if what Lisel had told him the other day was something they even had to worry about anymore.

However, that notion was quelled soon enough.

By the time the fourth day of their delving trip came and went, and as the end of their fifth day was steadily approaching, it became readily apparent to Blychert that Xander was acting less like himself; or rather, less like the person he’d first met a week ago.

There were dark bags under his eyes, for starters, and even though Vineta urged him to get more sleep, Xander was always the last one left awake by the campfire whenever they all went to bed. He was more reckless in battle too. Unlike the first night Bly had met Bold Arrow, Xander seemed more and more interested in rushing ahead and taking battles head-on by himself, rather than working as a part of a formation like they usually did. When Bredic confronted him about it, Xander simply shrugged with one of his offhanded smiles, and insisted that it was more efficient for him to do it this way, while they supported him from the back.

But Blychert couldn’t really complain. None of those changes in behavior had really put them in any sort of danger yet. They were still clearing out spawns with relative ease, despite the difficulty changes. But then, maybe it was worth trying to confront him anyway? Although, if his own friends had little success, Bly couldn’t imagine what good it would do coming from him?

He just couldn’t understand what had Xander in such a spot of determination. Did he think that by finding some random rare item that it would absolve him of whatever guilt he seemed to be holding onto? Fat chance of that. Bly knew a thing or two about holding onto guilt, and shaking it wasn’t that easy.

“Hold on a moment…” Lisel’s voice suddenly breached the stillness of the tunnel ahead of them.

The sound of boots coming to a halt reverberated across the cavern a moment later, as the rest of the party stopped in its tracks.

Blychert blinked several times quickly, coming to a halt himself, if only belatedly, as he picked his head up and out of his own musings.

Surprisingly, they hadn’t run into any monsters for a little while now. A quick scan of his sage terminal told Bly that he was still hovering at about half his maximum mana, though his short-term supply had fully replenished by now. Good enough, if there was trouble ahead.

“What is it?” Xander asked, turning to face the rest of the party from the front of the pack, “Sense something?”

“No, it’s just…” Lisel pondered aloud for a moment. She stopped midsentence and moved across to the side of the tunnel. Raising her hand, she edged her finger along the wall, before lifting it up towards her nose. “The terrain is different now. It—smells different.”

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Vineta sniffed twice, “Smell? I don’t smell anything unusual.”

“No shit, her nose is better than yours.” Bredic insisted, as he joined Lisel on that side of the tunnel, “Look at this, the stone is totally different here. Not so natural looking anymore, almost like…”

“Like we’ve found a new part of the dungeon.” Xander supplied the answer himself. He dropped his pack and immediately joined the other two. Blychert followed as well, and watched as Xander lifted his own hand to the stonework.

“This is it…” Xander murmured with a nod. He turned towards Bredic momentarily, “You and Lisel pace back the way we just came and inspect both sides of the tunnel carefully. Make sure we didn’t miss any obscured passages. And Lisel, keep looking out for traps. Vineta, you do your thing and see what's ahead. Trelen, you’re with me. We’ll take the first look.”

Bly nodded, and followed suite as the rest of the party broke away into its various roles.

Unlike the rough, uneven, and winding stonework of the caves behind them, this looked like uniform stonewortk. It was the same dark color, but smooth and flush, like layers of layed brick. Bly followed in Xander’s footsteps as he quickly ran his hand along the finished wall, making his way down the tunnel. Soon, there was no more tunnel at all, instead giving way to a hallway. It was a perfectly squared corridor with smooth stone on all sides; dark and running deep into some unknown area of the dungeon.

“Huh—” Xander chuckled once, as if he himself couldn’t believe it. By the light of Vineta’s illumination spell behind them, Xander turned and looked at Bly with an expecting grin, “Complete terrain change. I wasn’t expecting something like this in a D zone.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Bly asked, not fullly sure what he'd meant.

“Hard to say…” Xander murmured, turning back towards the hallway. He lifted his arm and pointed his hand down the hall, pointing several times in quick succession, “I’ll bet you that lair is on the other side of this passage.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Bly shrugged. He bit his upper lip for a moment, biting at the dead skin thereof as he and Xander glared down the hallway. This was out of Bly’s depth, to be certain, but he doubted Xander felt the same. At any rate, he felt compelled to say, “Hey, Xander? I don’t know how else to say this, but… I’ve got a bad feeling about this place.”

“What—?” Xander shot a dismissive look in his direction, “What do you mean? Bad feeling?”

“That rock thrasher yesterday? The amount of spawns—”

“I told you already,” Xander interjected, shaking his head in consolation, “High core volatility makes things unpredictable. You don't have to worry about that.”

“That was a C-ranked monster on the floor.” Blychert argued, “I don't have anywhere near the experience you do, but I thought that wasn't possible. The compendium says—”

“The compendium is bullshit.” Xander hissed, but resigned an apologetic glance, “Look, I don't know, maybe it wandered in from the outside? Or something.”

Not with the entrance pillars. Ward is way too powerful. But you know that already. Don’t you? Bly wondered, realizing all at once that Xander wasn’t interested in entertaining this conversation. He’d found what he wanted, and that was likely that.

“I think maybe we should go back to camp.” Bly changed the subject, as they continued to walk down the quickly darkening hallway, “We’ve been down here a while, and I wouldn’t mind having the chance to go back to Kelvalder. I could ask my teacher about all of this. She knows a lot, and might be able to help—”

“That’s a good idea, yeah…” Xander nodded, though it seemed like he was only half listening, “You guys should do that. I’ll press on though… try to find that wayshrine. It’s close, I can feel it. You know?”

“What?” Bly furrowed his brow. Xander didn’t respond, and so Bly shook his shoulder, “Hey? Xander?”

“Huh?” He craned his neck, a look of annoyance on his face now, “What? What’s the problem?”

“Do you even hear yourself?” Bly forced himself to whisper, not necessarily wanting any of the others to hear their conversation, “You’ve been acting real strange the last few days. And I’m not the only one who’s noticed, by the way. But we’re not friends, so I guess I’m stuck having to tell you this. You’ve been acting way too reckless.”

Xander scoffed, “Reckless? Give me a break, Trelen. This dungeon isn’t anything special—”

“Don't bullshit me.” Bly argued straight way, “You said it yourself, even a D-rated dungeon is extremely dangerous. You have a death wish or something? You need to step back and start focusing on your team. You know? As its leader?”

The immediate look on Xander’s face startled Blychert, it was as if the swordsman had seen a ghost, or that he was about to vomit. Suddenly, Xander had thrust Bly into the stonework with force, scrunching the front of his robes as he glared.

“What's your problem?” Xander grinded out, “Telling me what I have to do? Don’t be so quick to write me off. What the hell do you know about being a leader, anyway?”

“Enough to know you’re not acting like one.” Bly murmured, not deterred by the aggressive look in Xander’s eye.

Xander snarled somewhat, “What the hell did I even bring you along for?”

Bly shook his head slightly, “You tell me?”

“I—” But that seemed to stun Xander right then and there.

As if immediately aware of what he was doing, Xander offered a sympathetic, remorseful expression and released Blychert all at once. He stepped back and leaned against the opposite wall. Softly, he said, “Sorry, Trelen. I didn’t mean that. It's this damned dungeon…”

“Don’t you think maybe you need to get some sleep?” Bly figured he might as well ask.

“Yeah… probably” Xander sighed, throwing his head in the direction of farther down the tunnel.

Several moments of silence passed, before Bly said, “Can I ask you something?”

Xander nodded wordlessly.

“Why is this quest so important to you? I mean, can’t you honor Norman some other way?”

Xander furrowed his brow as he glanced back at Bly, before smiling somewhat, “Let me guess… Vineta told you? Wait—no, Lisel?”

“Sorry…” Bly flushed.

Xander shifted his bodyweight and rested his left foot on the stone behind him, propping his back forward slightly. Plainly, he started, “He planned the whole thing. The quest, the travel days, the delve. I guess he wanted it to be a surprise.”

“But why?” Bly asked.

Xander remained silent for a moment, before shrugging with a small smile, “I couldn’t tell you. But he wasn’t any good at it. Hell, he told me a few weeks before he… passed. The others knew, I just didn’t have the heart to tell them that he’d already told me. By the time they asked me if we could still do it, I guess… I don’t know. I just couldn’t say no to them.”

There was a coldness in his last sentence, which made Bly wonder for a moment if he even wanted to be here at all. Maybe the reason he was trying to get through it so quickly was because he was trying to move on? Perhaps everything he was doing was just a front to keep everyone else excited.

“Item’s not on this level.” Xander switched the conversation’s direction, “We’ve effectively mapped the whole thing. Which means its deeper. And if it’s not deeper, then there’s only one place it can be.”

“…Boss.” Bly shuttered at the thought.

Were they seriously going to try it?

Xander turned his head and offered a deeply serious expression, and opened his mouth. He closed it again, as if he couldn't find the words, before saying, “I need to ask you some—”

“Xander!” Vineta shouted.

Both of them snapped their heads back in the other direction as the sound of footsteps running across the cavern floor became audible.

“Found something?” Xander called out, his tone shifting back to his usual one.

“I divined a massive energy reading down this passage.” She pointed her quarterstaff in the direction they'd been heading, “It’s the densest I've divined since we first stepped foot in this dungeon.”

“Boss…” Xander mumbled, and his eyes widened with renewed energy, “So that means…”

“You were right.” She smiled, “We made it to the second-floor lair. The boss on this floor is directly on the other side of this hallway; has to be.”

Blychert peered down the hallway with a queasy feeling in his stomach.

This delve was far from over.